Elder Hanson: Making strides

This week has been a good one. We have been working hard every day and I went on an exchange with the zone leaders and got to be with Elder Sewell and he’s awesome. I want to get to be like him because he knows how to work hard and have fun "I like to work hard and p-day hard" -Elder Sewell. He is from Bristol England and he is one of 14 kids. We got a long really well and he taught us a lot. We were chapping and we see a Nigerian man walking down the street with a huge tv in one hand and a suit case in the other. We stopped him and asked him if he needed help and he said "are you guys Mormons?!" we said yes and then he said "then yeah!" We carried his 32 inch tv because he was moving and was just going to do it by himself and he said he was moving just down the street and we carried that tv waaayyy through town haha and just kept going but we just talked to him about the restoration and he sounded very interested and promising. We are going to call him later this week. His name is Dalah and when we got to our end point we got to an AZDA (UK version of Walmart) and we set the stuff down and were going to give him a Book of Mormon but then he said, "Wait here. I think I know that person over there.” and ran off after a girl really far away and disappeared for like 10 minutes and Elder Sewell and I just were talking about how funny it would be if what if he stole this and just framed us. But then he came back and we gave him a Book of Mormon before he went on the bus with all his stuff and it was really good. We also saw Todor twice that day very randomly and I just told Elder Sewell about him and he said, “Well maybe we saw him twice because we are meant to invite him to church.”, I just said, “Haha, ok.” and the next day we called Todor inviting him and my jaw just dropped when he said, “Yeah sure.” So we scheduled to meet up with him and take the bus with him to church and it was amazing! He just listened and took a lot of notes and when I saw him take the sacrament it just gave me a glimpse of the happiness missionary work can give me and he actually stayed through the whole 3 hours and it was amazing!

The work is really good. It’s still really hard, but Dad’s emails mean the world to me and I can tell I’m just growing every day. I love you Mom and Dad, you are everything to me.

Elder Hanson

Handwritten letter to us written Sept 23-29, received on Monday, October 7

Dear Family Aberdeen

Sept 23, 2013

Today was just lame. We didn’t get out of the flat and done with shopping until 1:30 and p-day gets over at 6:00. Also I organized for us to go to Danther castle but everyone was done with everything stopping by the time we started because we had to clean everything. I need a fun p-day, it’s the only thing that keeps me going. So it’s going to be interesting how burnt out I’m going to be by the end of the week. We just ended up at the flat because we were the only missionaries in town and we are already too much in town so I cut my hair and doodled for three hours while listening to Church music. Yeah, pretty lame I know, but at least stress-relieving.

Sept 24, 2013

Today was a really good and rainy day. We went on exchanges with Bridge of Dawn and we unfortunately had to pass off David because wouldn’t you know, he’s not in our area. But we have to do whatever needs to be done. We went around town trying to talk to people but it was raining like crazy so it wasn’t too effective. Then we went to have a lesson but it fell through so Lewis was in charge of young men that night and we were already at the church so he asked us to do a Question and Answer with the youth that went surprisingly well. To end off our night, we were soaking, but had dinner and watched the Emma Smith Story at the flat while eating really bad mac and cheese. Today I was on an exchange with Elder Alyson from Edinburgh and he’s really nice to be around.

Sept 25, 2013

Today was a really good day. We had ward correlation and I got to really notice how well the ward is improving and the work is paying off. Aaron Robertson is an amazing ward mission leader. He is what the ward needs. The ward is planning on a lot more activities and the work is moving. Today was just crazy with all we had to do and it takes so long for us to travel because the buses take forever. But things are getting better every day.

Sept 26, 2013

I’m not sure how to react to today. It was enjoyable and we got a lot done but our numbers didn’t show a good day. Today we did a lot of planning and I got my tennis shoes from the lost and found that I left on the bus yesterday and am so happy to get them back. Then we went by a guy named Peter who wants help stopping smoking. It’s funny, I bet my spelling will get worse because they spell so much stuff in Dorick. Then we ended the night with a dinner at the Carson’s.

Sept 27, 2013

Today we went on exchanges with the zone leaders. I was just with Elder Sewell from Bristol England and I love him. He’s so fun and just a really good missionary. We went finding and had a lot of good talking with each other and I learned a lot from him about the work and just life. We walked all over town and saw a man with a bag and suitcase and a 32 inch tv walking down the street and he looked like he needed help so we said, “Hey, do you need help?” Then he said, “You guys Mormon?” Then we answered and he said, “Then, yeah!” We found he is from Nigeria and his name is Dalah and he was moving so we helped him move a 32 inch tv walking it through town and we taught him the restoration and he asked for a Book of Mormon.

Sept 28, 2013

Today we taught a good lesson with Steve. We helped with Sister Park and her little girl’s birthday. There were a lot of non members to see us helping and it was really good. The little girl’s name is Sarah and she turned five, so we set up tables and chairs and blew up balloons and I helped paint some kids faces and Sarah made me a bracelet that said Elder Hanson…or her mom made it and gave it to me – either way. Then we went chapping and talked with some really nice people including a woman named Terry that has a really good attitude and told us many stories.

Sept 29, 2013

I don’t even know how to describe today. When we were on exchange, me and Elder Sewell saw Todor at the store and didn’t know he worked there. Then later that day by our bus stop we saw him again. Elder Sewell just said there is a reason we saw him twice and he told me I should just invite him to church and I explained Todor’s point of view on religion. But he just said, “So.” And I just shrugged, “Ha, okay.” So the next day we phoned and just said, “Hey, do you want to come to church?” He just said, “Yeah, sure.” My jaw about hit the floor. We took the bus with him to church, just having small talk and we got to church and people were very inviting and Brother Ray just shook his hand with a huge smile and walked to me and said, “Miracles do happen.” Because we took him (Brother Ray) for a joint teach and just saw how stone hearted and immoveable Todor is. In Sacrament I had to help pass, and Aaron Robertson sat by him and explained everything to him and when I was passing and looked down the isle, and saw Todor taking the sacrament, the spirit filled my heart and a tear rolled down my cheek. I was so filled with joy, I can’t even wait to baptize someone. Miracles do happen, even if Todor doesn’t get baptized, I know why I got that prompting (to knock on his door), it was so I could feel the way I did passing that sacrament and seeing a child of God take the sacrament because of my efforts. In the Lord’s time. He even stayed all three hours and even looked comfortable and cracked a few jokes here and there that made the class laugh. We also passed thank you notes to all the people that feed us and Sister Hallman just loved it even though she has been feeding the missionaries for years.